frcobot_ros 2.3. Fairino_hardware Plugin (custom robot moveit configuration package

Fairino_hardware plugin for the connection between moveit and the robot’s intermediate layer, through the fairino_hardware plugin move_group will be sent to moveit_control, and then forwarded to ros2_control, ros2_control and then through the fairino_hardware plugin to drive the actual robot movement, and fairino_hardware plugin will also accept the actual robot feedback data, so as to realize the rviz2 simulation interface robot model and the actual robot synchronization.

Hardware plug-in drives the actual robot motion, and fairino_hardware plug-in also accepts the feedback data from the actual robot, thus realizing the synchronization between the robot model of the rviz2 simulation interface and the actual robot, and thus realizing the function of the user driving the actual robot motion through the rviz2 interface.

And thanks to the implementation of the fairino_hardware plug-in, the Fairino robot can access the ros2_control control framework, making the Fairino robot compatible with third-party packages based on ros2_control.

2.3.1. Fairino_hardware Plugin Compilation

Compile the fairino_hardware plugin package in the official ros2_ws package, compile the fairino_hardware plugin package through the previous section, then you will see the .so file libfairino_hardware.so generated by the plugin under “ros2_ws/install/fairino_hardware/lib/”, which means the plugin is compiled successfully.

Then you will see the .so file libfairino_hardware.so generated by the plug-in under “ros2_ws/install/fairino_hardware/lib/”, which indicates that the plug-in has been compiled.

It should be noted that you need to make the naming of each joint of the robot by the fairino_hardware plug-in the same as the naming of each joint of the robot configured by moveit2.

The naming of the six joints of the robot by this fairino_hardware plug-in from the base coordinate position to the end of the robot are j1, j2, j3, j4, j5 and j6 respectively, so you need to name the joints of the robot as j1, j2, j3, j4, j5 and j6 when the robot is configured by moveit2. moveit2 configuration of the robot need to robot joints named j1, j2, j3, j4, j5, j6.

2.3.2. Fairino_hardware Plugin Usage

Then you will see the .so file libfairino_hardware.so generated by the plug-in under “ros2_ws/install/fairino_hardware/lib/”, which indicates that the plug-in has been compiled successfully.

where “fairino_hardware/FairinoHardwareInterface” is the name of the plug-in for the hardware settings, which can be found in the “fairino_hardware.xml” file in the “ros2_ws/src /fairino_hardware” directory of the ‘fairino_hardware.xml’ file to see.

2.3.3. Running Plug-ins

Open the terminal, then go to the ros2_ws workspace and source workspace, the purpose is to add the fairino_hardware plugin, you can also load the path to the “~/.bashrc” file, but it is not recommended.

cd ros2_ws
source install/setup.bash

Then go back to the home directory and go to the test_fa_ws workspace and the source workspace and run the demo.launch.py file.

cd ..
cd test_fa_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch fairino5_v6_robot_moveit_config demo.launch.py

2.3.4. Running Result

After the demo.launch.py file is launched, the rviz2 interface is shown below.

Then you will see the .so file libfairino_hardware.so generated by the plug-in under “ros2_ws/install/fairino_hardware/lib/”, which indicates that the plug-in has been compiled successfully.

The actual robot position at this point is as follows.

At this point, you can drive the actual robot through the rviz2 interface, drag the blue sphere at the end of the robot in the rviz2 interface to move the end of the robot to the target position, then drag the red, green, and blue rings at the end of the robot to change the robot’s end attitude, and then click on the left-hand side of the Planning&Execute button to carry out the motion trajectory planning and drive the robot motion.

You will find that the actual robot moves synchronously with the simulated robot on the rviz2 interface and stops at the target position.

The following figure shows the motion of the actual robot and the simulated robot through the rviz2 interface to the target position.

At this point it is possible to control the synchronized motion of the actual robot and the simulated robot on the rviz2 interface via moveit2.

2.4. Fairino_hardware Plugin (official robot moveit configuration package)

In the ros2_ws directory, compile the functionality packages for your corresponding robot model, using the fairino5 robot as an example. In plugin corresponding to robotsofeware V3.8.3, torque command mode is added, which means robot can receive torque command.

cd ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-select fairino5_v6_moveit2_config
source install/setup.bash

Then you need to add the fairino_hardware plugin to synchronize the movement with the actual robot, go to “ros2_ws/install/fairino5_v6_moveit2_config/share/fairino5_v6_moveit2_config/” directory.

Locate the fairino5_v6_robot.ros2_control.xacro file, focus on the 3rd line of xacro file:

use_fake_hardware:=false

replace it to:

use_fake_hardware:=true

Be carful, the parameter “robot_control_mode” in line3 decides which operation mode robot start with when plugin loaded, 0 means position mode, which plugin will export position command interface, 1 means troque mode, which plugin will export effort command interface. The demo of torque mode operation will release in the fairino_hardware package which corresponding to robot softwareV3.8.4, please don’t set this parameter to 1 before that.

where “fairino_hardware/FairinoHardwareInterface” is the name of the plug-in for the hardware settings, which can be found in the ‘fairino_hardware.xml’ file in the “/ros2_ws/src /fairino_hardware” directory of the ‘fairino_hardware.xml’ file to see the.

At this point to run the plugin you need to go to the ros2_ws workspace, then source the environment and run the demo.launch.py file.

cd ros2_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch fairino5_v6_moveit2_config demo.launch.py

3. MTC Sample Code Package

3.1. MTC Sample Code Package Introduction

The mtc sample code package provides a refactored rviz2 interface using the moveit2 and fairino_hardware plugins. The original MotionPlanning tab is replaced with the Motion Planning Tasks tab, which is used to display the various phases of the robot’s motion.

Rviz2 interface can be accessed via the The rviz2 interface can be edited from the file “mtc.rviz” under the path “ros2_ws/install/fairino_mtc_demo/share/fairino_mtc_demo/launch”. “You can edit the ‘mtc.rviz’ file to customize the rviz2 interface to meet your functional requirements.

And mtc sample code package also provides a moveit2 and fairino_hardware plugin to drive the robot cycle to grab the target example, through the example you can understand how to make use of the form of code to better use the moveit2 and fairino_hardware plugin and the actual robot interaction, based on which you can make Customization to fit your needs.

3.2. MTC Sample Code Package Compilation

3.2.1. MTC Sample Code Package Cloning

Clone the official mtc sample code package ‘fairino_robot’ into the src directory of the ‘ros2_ws’ workspace.

3.2.2. Robot Model Selection

Select the robot model in the mtc_demo_env.launch.py file in the ‘ros2_ws/src/fairino_robot/fairino_mtc_demo_launch’ directory of the official mtc sample code package. Select the robot model in the file, and modify lines 9, 10, and 11 of the file to match your robot.

You can refer to the function packs for each robot model in the “ros2_ws/src/fairino_robot/” directory for the robot model names.

3.2.3. MTC Sample Code Package Compilation

Compiling the fairino_description function package

Open a terminal, go to the ros2_ws directory, compile the fairino_description feature package, and then do a source.

cd ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-select fairino_description
source install/setup.bash

Compile robot function packs

In the ros2_ws directory, compile the functionality packages for your corresponding robot model, using the fairino5 robot as an example.

colcon build --packages-select fairino5_v6_moveit2_config
source install/setup.bash

Then add the fairino_hardware plugin to synchronize the movement with the actual robot, go to “ros2_ws/install/fairino5_v6_moveit2_config/share/fairino5_v6_moveit2_config/ config” directory, find fairino5_v6_moveit2_config.

Find fairino5_v6_robot.ros2_control.xacro, replace “<plugin>mock_components/GenericSystem</plugin>” with “<plugin>fairino_hardware/FairinoHardwareInterface</plugin>” in line 9 of the file, save and exit.

Compile fairino_mtc_demo function package

Compile fairino_mtc_demo function package and source.

colcon build --packages-select fairino_mtc_demo
source install/setup.bash

3.3. The MTC Sample Code Package Runs

3.3.1. Rviz2 Interface

Run the mtc_demo_env.launch.py file to open the customized rviz2 interface. The Motion Planning Tasks tab on the left side of the interface is used to display the customized processes for each motion of the robot.

cd ros2_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch fairino_mtc_demo mtc_demo_env.launch.py

3.3.2. Robot Motion

Reopen a new terminal, go to the ros2_ws directory and source file and run the mtc_demo_app.launch.py file to execute the robot motion.

cd ros2_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch fairino_mtc_demo mtc_demo_app.launch.py

Then the Motion Planning Tasks tab in the rviz2 interface will show the robot’s various motion processes, and the actual robot and the simulated robot in the rviz2 interface will be synchronized.

4. Caveat

4.1. Fairino_hardware Plugin Version Synchronization

To use the fairino_hardware plug-in, the version of the fairino_hardware plug-in needs to be the same as the version of the Valeo robot. robot motion data sent by ros2_control is converted to a data type acceptable to Fairino robot.

So it is critical that the fairino_hardware plug-in’s data type is consistent with the Fairino robot’s data type, and the different versions of the plug-in and the robot may result in different data types, so before officially debugging the fairino_hardware plug-in, you need to confirm that the version of Fairino robot is consistent with the version of fairino_hardware plug-in and the version of the robot.

Before debugging the fairino_hardware plugin, you need to make sure that the version of the Fairino robot is the same as the version of the fairino_hardware plugin, and if it is not, you need to upgrade the Fairino robot.

First of all, you can check the current version of the robot in the “WebAPP Interface->System Settings->About” interface of Fairino Robotics.
Then you need to prepare the official robot software package, then enter the “WebAPP interface->Auxiliary applications->Robot body->System upgrade” interface of the Fairino Robot, and then click the “Select file” button to select the prepared software package corresponding to the version of the fairino_hardware plug-in, and then select “Upload package” and wait for the software upgrade to complete. Click the “Select File” button, select the robot software upgrade package corresponding to the version of the fairino_hardware plug-in, select “Upload Package”, and wait for the software upgrade to complete.
After the upgrade is completed, the system will prompt the need to restart the robot, the robot control box switch to the off position, wait for about 25 seconds, and then start the robot, so the robot software version upgrade is complete, you can carry out the subsequent fairino_hardware plug-in compilation and use.

4.2. Problems Likely To Be Encountered

4.2.1. The robot model may not be loaded on the right side of the Configure Robot Feature Pack.

Solution: This error may be due to the path in the .urdf file is not written correctly, can be solved by modifying the path in the .urdf file and copying the meshes file into the workspace under install/test_moveit/share/test_moveit.

4.2.2. After generating the package, there is an error running it.

Solution: Removing line 203 in the launches.py file “default_value=moveit_config.move_group_capabilities[“capabilities”],” in [“capabilities”] will fix it.

5. Summarize

This tutorial describes the installation, configuration and use of the MoveIt2 plug-in; the installation and use of the fairino_hardware plug-in to realize the synchronous motion of the rviz2 simulation robot and the actual robot; and the compilation and running of the mtc sample code package to realize the customization function with the help of the moveit2 and fairino_hardware plug-ins.

It is hoped that the elaboration of this tutorial will enable users to have a more comprehensive understanding of MoveIt2 and the fairino_hardware plugin, and hopefully help them to better personalize the FAIRINO Robot service features.